ICNC Summer Institute at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy

Introducing Civil Resistance: Understanding the Basics

Hardy Merriman, President of ICNC, opens the week of lectures and discussions with an introduction on civil resistance.

Nonviolent civil resistance movements around the world are a growing force in shaping geopolitics. In movements over the last two decades in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America and North America the world has witnessed how ordinary people have used nonviolent tactics — such as strikes, boycotts, mass demonstrations and other actions — to achieve rights, freedom and justice. Yet, this critical phenomenon is often overlooked or misunderstood by external observers. It defies conventional wisdom that unarmed people mobilizing by the thousands or millions can defeat armed, wealthy and organized adversaries who seem to have all the advantages.

Here are two recommended readings if you would like to learn more about why civil resistance works, what its long-term record and outcomes are, and how it will increasingly affect social, economic and political change: